I'm why you're here

Gabrielle

Gabrielle has been off treatment for 14 years, and doing very well

Gabrielle, at two years old was an adorable little girl. She was bright and fun but, something wasn't quite right. It took a few weeks to determine that
it was a brain tumor that was keeping her from being completely healthy and happy.

Over the next year, she went weekly to Children's Hospital for chemotherapy. Dr. Foreman and the nurses in the Oncology Clinic became a part of our lives.
However, despite the fact that she seemed so well, an MRI six months later showed the tumor had grown. Gabrielle had another year of chemotherapy.
Once again, we were confident that we could move on. She had endured the treatments very well and appeared to have no major lasting side effects. She
could see well with her right eye and adjusted well to having no vision in the left eye.

Unfortunately, five months later, at the age of 5, the vision in her right eye was compromised. Another visit to Dr. Foreman, and Gabrielle needed to start
yet another series of chemotherapy. Her vision improved temporarily, but Gabrielle was considered legally blind. As a last resort, she started radiation
treatments. She endured them like a trooper and slowly, but miraculously our little girl was returned to us and the vision in her right eye came back
too.

Gabrielle is 19 years old now and has been off treatment for 14 years, and is doing very well. She is majoring in Hospitality Management at Grand Canyon
University in Phoenix, AZ, and wants to someday work for Disney and manage a cruise ship. Her hobbies include cosplay, reading, and making coffee.

Our Stories

Diagnosis: Germinoma
Favorite Song: “Stand By Me” performed by Prince Royce
Hobbies: Tennis and Kayaking
CHIP Impact: MAF supported work into the memory loss associated with intracranial germ cell tumors; a devastating complication. This enabled us to realize the importance of rapid initiation of therapy. Aaron presented with severe loss of memory, but the rapid start of t..Continue reading

Abby, age 9, was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma on June 29, 2005. The tumor was located on her spine and had pressed on her spinal cord so severely that Abby was paralyzed from the waist down. After surgery to remove the tumor, Abby began a long year that included 14 rounds of chemo and 26 days of radiation, not to mention countless physical therapy sessions to help her regain the use of her..Continue reading

Allison was six years old in April 2007 when she was diagnosed with a medulloblastoma. The surgery successfully removed the whole tumor, about the size of a plumb. She then underwent six weeks of radiation, and nine rounds of chemotherapy at Children’s Hospital, under the care of Dr. Nick Foreman and his wonderful staff and the nurses in the infusion room. She completed therapy in May 2008 wit..Continue reading

Ariana, or Ani, was born a perfectly normal and healthy little girl. All that changed on Friday, January 13, 2006. Little Ani was diagnosed with a rare form of childhood brain cancer – pontine brain stem glioma. This form of cancer accounts for less than ten percent of all childhood brain tumors. The prognosis is not good. The tumor intertwines itself with the vital parts of the brain stem and..Continue reading

Avery was a happy and passionate ten year old girl who loved every moment of riding her new pony when our lives stopped on a dime on August 2, 2011. After a few bouts of what we thought was a recurring stomach bug, we found ourselves sitting in the emergency room trying to understand how our sweet girl could have a brain tumor. Within hours of that first MRI, we were rushed to Children’s Hosp..Continue reading

Brandon was diagnosed with a metastatic medullablastoma brain tumor on June 26, 2002. He was 4 ½ years old. He became a big brother just three weeks before to his little sister, Katie. Brandon was having symptoms from the brain tumor and everyone thought it was due to the new baby. We knew something was wrong, but had no idea what. As bad as it was, we were fortunate to find it when we did...Continue reading

I was diagnosed on March 2, 2006 with a Non-Germanomatous Germ Cell Tumor at the age of 16. I underwent chemotherapy followed by whole-brain radiation. My last treatment fell on my 17th birthday. Today, I am cancer free and learning to live with amnesia, or short term memory loss, the result of the tumor and treatments.
I live with my mom, Lorri. I have an older sister, Kendra. We lost ..Continue reading

Brianna was diagnosed on June 9th, 2004 with a Glioblastoma Multiforme Grade IV tumor located in the thalamus of her brain. After the initial biopsy and two craniotomies, she had 2 rounds of chemotherapy followed by 30 radiation therapies. She stayed on oral chemotherapy until she relapsed in January 2005. She also needed physical and occupational therapies to help her regain the use of her r..Continue reading

On February 8, 1998, four days after his 11th birthday, my healthy, athletic son Chase Kluth was diagnosed with a teratoma brain tumor. Two weeks later Dr. Michael Handler and Dr. Nicholas Foreman concurred that the tumor had to be surgically removed. Despite surviving a successful 8 hour surgery, complications set in requiring emergency surgery. This second surgery left Chase in a coma for mo..Continue reading

On September 17th, 2005, Chris had a seizure. He had been experiencing bad headaches and trouble with his vision for a while; on the day of his seizure he was taken to Denver Health, where an MRI revealed that he had a large tumor in the middle of his brain. Further tests showed Chris had a Pinealblastoma, a type of brain tumor primarily found in infants aged 2 to 3 years old. He was 22 at..Continue reading

Doctors developed a modified treatment program to aggressively treat his cancer

Diagnosis: Medulloblastoma
Hobbies: Cub Scouts, Music
Favorite Song: “Don’t Stop Believing” by the Glee Cast
CHIP Impact: Collaborative collection of chip data, including Colorado Children’s Hospital, has enabled us to realize that even children with metastatic disease can be cured with the application of modified therapy.
Christian was an active and loving 3-year-old ..Continue reading

After an onset of double vision in June 2016, an MRI showed a tumor in 12-year-old Cooper's brain. Thereafter, he bravely faced a variety of intensive treatments and therapies, with many ups and downs along the way. Cooper finished a series of 30 radiation treatments in October that caused the tumor to decrease in size during the winter of 2016. After a period in which Cooper’s strength and ba..Continue reading

Daniele Stell (we called her Dani) was 18 years old when she was diagnosed with a cancer called Ewing’s Sarcoma. She had found a lump on her side and after numerous trips to her regular doctor and six months time, she was finally diagnosed. By that time, the cancer had spread to her lungs and she was in a critical state. Her misdiagnosis most likely cost her life.
Once Ewing’s Sarcoma was ..Continue reading

Danielle was thirteen and on the school volleyball team when her knee began to hurt. She did not think much of it, but the pain persisted until she could not walk. After months of tests and countless doctor visits she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma (bone cancer) in her right hip. She began chemotherapy and had several surgeries in an attempt to save her leg as well as her life. Unfortunat..Continue reading

Was the first craniopharyngioma brain tumor in the world to be Gene Micro Arrayed

Diagnosis: Craniopharyngioma
Hobbies: Skiing, Playing Violin and Dancin g
CHIP Impact: Eli inspired us to look at the chip data for all children with craniopharyngiomas, something which had never been done in any center. This has suggested potential new therapies for this tumor.
In late December 2008, while on the East Coast for Eli’s great grandmother’s 90th birthday, Eli ..Continue reading

Eryk was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1997 and is the youngest of three boys. Eryk came to Denver with his parents in March 2011 while his father worked on a yearlong research project at the USGS in Lakewood. Eryk’s father is a Professor of Geology at the University of Warsaw. In November 2011, three months before their planned return to Poland, Eryk became sick and was diagnosed with Leukemia. H..Continue reading

Gabby’s headaches had started out small but had gotten so severe she asked to cancel her Teddy Bear birthday party. Instead of a party, she took a trip to The Children’s Hospital ER, where a CAT scan revealed the source of the headaches. The day before her 5th Birthday Gabby was diagnosed with a brain tumor the size of a baseball. This was the beginning of a 19 month fight against this awful d..Continue reading

Gabriel was a normal, healthy, and active boy who was 9 years old and had just started 4th grade in the fall of 2013. Gabe had been saying he had headaches for months, and we’d been in and out of the doctor’s office countless times. On Friday, August 16th, we decided to keep him home from school because he didn’t feel good. Later in the day he was dizzy and could not hold himself up. We took h..Continue reading

Gabriel Fawcett was in a car accident in May 1998. He and his girlfriend only experienced minor bumps and bruises, thanks to seatbelts. They were taken to the hospital for observation and CT scans as a precaution. After viewing the scans, the doctor inquired about past head injuries, seeing something abnormal on the scan. We brushed it off as an obvious mistake on the scan. They did another sc..Continue reading

Gabrielle, at two years old was an adorable little girl. She was bright and fun but, something wasn't quite right. It took a few weeks to determine that it was a brain tumor that was keeping her from being completely healthy and happy.
Over the next year, she went weekly to Children's Hospital for chemotherapy. Dr. Foreman and the nurses in the Oncology Clinic became a part of our lives. H..Continue reading

Chip data showed that certain tumors do not fit neatly into one category

Diagnosis: Glioblastoma with PNET component
Hobbie s: Reading, Swimming, Shopping, going to the Spa and Creating Art
Favorite Song : “Stronger” by Kelly Clarkson
CHIP Impact : Chip data showed that certain tumors do not fit neatly into one category. Some tumors, such as in this child, have characteristics of two different types of brain tumors. The chip analysi..Continue reading

Prior to being diagnosed with cancer at age 12, Hannah was a big athlete – swimming, track and volleyball. But frequent headaches lead to a diagnosis of a tennis ball-sized brain tumor. Surgery, 31 radiation treatments and 6 months of chemo followed as Hannah took on the toughest opponent of her life. Hannah is doing great now, and her competitive spirit is still strong. While her cancer and t..Continue reading

Izaac's team of medical professionals stood by his side the entire time

I-man as we call him was a wild creature, never sitting still and always jumping up and down as a little kid. In third grade things started to change, that summer he grew 8" and surpassed his older brother in size all around. By the middle of fourth grade he was sick and weak with a cough that would not stop. After ENT visits, pulmonary testing and other tests for TB and HIV he was deemed "nor..Continue reading

Jamin was one month shy of his 11th birthday when he was diagnosed with a medulloblastoma. The doctors and staff at Children’s Hospital Colorado have taken great care of Jamin throughout a resection surgery to remove most of the tumor attached to his brain stem, 6 weeks of radiation, and he is currently on the second of 9 cycles of chemotherapy.
Jamin has always enjoyed soccer, scouting, ..Continue reading

In October of 1997, 6 months after his father Randy died suddenly, Josh English age 10, was diagnosed with a rare and fatal form of brain cancer called PNET. Josh had too many tumors to count and was given a less than 15% prognosis (expected chance to live). It was during this treatment that he had the privilege of meeting and getting to know Morgan Adams and her family.
Thanks to the adva..Continue reading

Josie was a bright, fun, and happy little girl who could light up a room and command attention with just her smile and her laugh. You could not help but smile and laugh with her. Her eyes would captivate you as you gazed in amusement about the wonder and excitement only a child can bring.
She was born perfectly, as every parent hopes. She had only minor colds and earaches throughout the y..Continue reading

Kailey was just seven years old when she was diagnosed with a Craniopharyngioma (http://www.morganadamsfoundation.org/Craniopharyngioma) brain tumor in 2002. For years, she had experienced symptoms such as constant thirst and urination, infrequent bowel movements, and her growth began to stall. After finding a new pediatrician who did not dismiss our concerns, she ordered a colonoscopy. At tha..Continue reading

Favorite Color: Green
Favorite Foods: Cheese, anything chocolate
Obsessions: Legos, Legos, Legos!!!
Favorite Activities: Cub Scouts, swimming, wrestling
When I Grow Up I Want To Be: Working for NASA
Kian was a typically rambunctious, playful and sometimes stubborn 3 year old when he started complaining that his “head hurt.” His mother also noticed that he was having d..Continue reading

Diagnosis: Ganglioglioma on the brain stem
Hobbies: Dancing
Favorite Song: "Rolling in the deep" by Adele
CHIP Impact: Through chip data analysis, researchers were able to look into the genetic basis for certain low grade tumors which had previously been very difficult to treat. This resulted in the identification of a specific treatable genetic mutation which, in Kuhu’s case,..Continue reading

His life was filled with doctor appointments, surgeries, and fear of the unknown

Kyle was a happy 13 year old who had just finished a summer of baseball and happened to be at football practice when the call came that Kyle had cancer. He had a mole removed a few days earlier that seemed fine but the biopsy revealed it as a level four malignant melanoma. Melanoma is a deadly kind of skin cancer. His life was filled with doctor appointments, surgeries, and fear of the unknown..Continue reading

This is not an easy story, just like so many who face this terrible illness. Our daughter Kyra was born bright, beautiful and joyful, and life was perfect. We had a son of 2 years and this little auburn haired bundle. Time had finally stood still and life was full. We were complete. It was the throwing up that led us to seek advice; milk allergies, reflux? When they said, “Your daughter ..Continue reading

Lindsey was diagnosed with a brain tumor (an ependymoma) when she was 13 months old. She endured chemotherapy, radiation and multiple surgeries over a period of 7 years, battling seven reoccurrences of her tumor. The multiple surgeries left Lindsey neurologically impaired. Speech had become difficult and she was no longer able to walk unaided. Unfortunately, conventional treatments did not wor..Continue reading

I’m 24 years old and have been happily married to my best friend and the love of my life for a little over three years and we have a beautiful daughter. After a long five years, I graduated from Metropolitan State College of Denver in December with a Bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Sciences. I have also been working part-time for the City and County of Denver as a Public Safety Cad..Continue reading

Marc enjoyed doing things every 4 year old boy usually likes to do. In February of 1986 Marc’s left eye was turning in, and he began having balance difficulty. Our pediatrician sent us to an Ophthalmologist, who in turn sent us to a Neurologist and a Neurosurgeon at Children’s Hospital, on February 17, 1986, where he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After surgery and radiation ..Continue reading

Morgan was a normal, healthy, very happy 5-year old girl when she was diagnosed with a Glioblastoma Multiforme brain tumor in December of 1997. She’d had no real outward symptoms and her diagnosis was utterly incomprehensible. We were told that GBM’s were very rare in children and that Morgan likely had only a 15% chance of surviving this tumor. Her tumor was large and devastating ..Continue reading

Morgan was a normal 15 year old girl excited about being in junior high, loved to be with her friends, and trying out for the soccer team when her life changed forever. One night in February 2005, after practice, she noticed a lump on her groin; we thought it was a pulled muscle, the next night she was limping from back pain. I had a sick feeling in my stomach, the next morning we were at the ..Continue reading

Development of new therapies inspired by chip analysis has enabled him to survive medulloblastoma relapses

Diagnosis: Medulloblastoma
Hobbies: Biking, golfing, video games
Favorite Song: "Believer" by Imagine Dragons
MAF Impact: Myles has had relapses of metastatic medulloblastoma which previously had been rapidly fatal in all children. Development of new therapies discovered through brain tumor analysis funded by The Morgan Adams Foundation has enabled Myles to survive these re..Continue reading

Neal was born in Brooklyn NY and grew up on Long Island with his older sister Robyn and his younger brother Louis. In 1996 he moved to Colorado, acquiring another brother and sister, Ansley and Jamie. He graduated from Conifer High School having studied computer science at Warren Tech for combined high school/college credit. He attended Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood and later taught ..Continue reading

Neal (Bugsy) Dennett Hutchinson had just turned four years old when he was diagnosed with Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma, a non-Hodgkins cancer. At diagnosis, he was in stage four, the most advanced cancer. Luckily for him, the doctors at The Children’s Hospital were ready to promote a bone marrow transplant as his best hope for cure. He went to Omaha, Nebraska, where he was the youngest can..Continue reading

In 2002, Paul Lemieux was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, the same kind of cancer Lance Armstrong beat. Paul’s tumor however had developed in his brain. Paul had surgery at the Children’s Hospital in November of 2002, and then underwent chemotherapy over 4 months, followed by five weeks of radiation. By June of 2003, Paul was cancer-free and he remains so today.
Despit..Continue reading

Phil was diagnosed with leukemia in New Castle Colorado on April 1, 2005 and immediately flew to Denver for treatment. His type of cancer was Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Phil started chemotherapy to try and get his cancer into remission. Unfortunately, Phil’s cancer was very aggressive and responded very slowly to the chemotherapy. The doctors started discussing a Bone Marrow Trans..Continue reading

In January of 2011, Ryan started throwing up. It seemed he had a flu bug, but then he became worse. After much testing and lots of visits to the pediatrician, it was determined it must have been a neurological disease. An MRI at Children’s Hospital Colorado confirmed Ryan had a 4th Ventricle Anaplastic Ependymoma.
Within days, Ryan had a partial resection of the tumor. The tumor had..Continue reading

On November 29, 2000 at the age of 10 ½ months, Sean Ian McCauley was diagnosed with a large and malignant Atypical Teratoid-Rhabdoid brain tumor. At the time, the very rare tumor carried only a 2% survival rate and no standardized treatment plan. After extensive searching to find treatment options and ultimately hope, Sean completed a year of experimental treatment, including 10 surger..Continue reading

Looking at Talan, you would never know that he has had such an incredible journey in such a short life

His starts out like so many others; he was a typical three year old little boy, full of life and ornery as ever. In August of 2009, Talan started complaining daily of headaches and vomiting when he would wake up in the morning and at nap time. I also noticed that his balance seemed to be a little more off than usual. After a few days of thinking he was battling some kind of flu, I made..Continue reading

Tanner was diagnosed on July 7, 1998 with a 4th ventricle posterior fossa Ependymoma. He was 21 months old. At the hands of Dr. Michael Handler, Tanner’s neurosurgeon, a complete surgical resection took place on July 9th, 1998.
Tanner spent 3 grueling weeks in the hospital recovering. During that time, a VP shuntwas installed in his head to control his hydrocepahalous caused by th..Continue reading

Finished treatment on March 10, 2010 and has been cancer free ever since

Diagnosis: Glioblastoma Multiforme
Completed Treatment: March 10th, 2010
Hobbies: Riding her scooter, swimming, reading, writing and art
CHIP Impact: Tayler was identified by conventional pathology as having a glioblastoma, but when treated with therapy for this tumor, rapidly recurred. Chip data suggested an entirely different diagnosis and when treated with therapy suggest..Continue reading

Teddy just completed six months of grueling physical therapy and nineteen rounds of chemo.

My wife and I strolled down the long red carpet. The interior of the Denver warehouse had been magically transformed into an upscale art auction. We could hear a stringed ensemble at the far end of the gala. Over one thousand guests were sipping on glasses of wine. Relishing the hors d'oeuvres. A volunteer at the entrance of the gala asked how we acquired our tickets. We weren't sure. Somebody..Continue reading

Our beautiful son, Thomas, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor(ATRT) at Children's Hospital, Denver in February 2007, at age 2yrs, 9mths. He was a previously healthy, happy little boy. The tumor was successfully removed and Thomas commenced a course of maintenance chemotherapy. He underwent a stem cell rescue in April. A MRI around this time was normal.
In May, Thomas started high ..Continue reading

Diagnosis: Anaplastic Astrocytoma Grade III (July 2015)
In May 2015, Trevor started having migraine headaches that we thought were from a concussion and dehydration from playing baseball. He would get these migraines after he was active, so we took him to see his doctor and she said they were most likely from baseball. After a few trips to the emergency room because of the migraines, T..Continue reading

His most recent MRI resulted in a clean scan that showed no evidence of disease

On Thursday, August 27, 2015, then 6-year old Walker was taken to his pediatrician for what was expected to be a normal annual exam. Instead, Walker’s parents left the appointment devastated and in shock with the diagnosis of a brain tumor. That night, Walker and his parents were life flighted from Bozeman, MT to Children’s Hospital Colorado. On August 31, the tumor was removed, but weeks late..Continue reading

Diagnosis: Medulloblastoma
Hobbies: Motivational Speaking
Favorite Song: “Part of Me” by Katy Perry
CHIP Impact: MicroArray Chip data has accurately identified a particular high risk medulloblastoma (c-myc positive). This has enabled us to adjust therapy and now means that children with this variant of medulloblastoma, previously incurable, now have a reasonable chance of c..Continue reading

Diagnosis: High-grade glioma
Favorite song/band: The Grateful Dead, Green Day, Led Zeppelin
Hobbies: Playing guitar, traveling, and riding his bike
CHIP Impact: Data from the MicroArray chip determined the therapy to be used, which was successful in spite of the fact that Will had a malignant metastatic tumor.
On July 3, 2004 a previously unknown cerebellar brain tumor s..Continue reading

Cancer is sneaky. But Zach’s doctors were sneakier.
In 2008, when Zach was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma, it was, of course, traumatic news for him and his entire family. But the truth was, it hadn’t spread and there was an 80-85% cure rate, so they approached treatment with faith and hope and Zach did awe- some. In fact, he was nearing his five-year survivor date when the unthinkable hap..Continue reading

Our precious son, Zachary Voss, was diagnosed with a brain tumor on March 27, 2006, just two weeks after his second birthday. His symptoms were vomiting and loss of balance (ataxia). An MRI revealed that Zachary had a medullablastoma, an extremely aggressive form of brain cancer that was completely coating his entire brain, partially coating his spine, and tumor cells were floating in his spin..Continue reading

At two months old, Zuri was admitted to Children’s Hospital, Colorado after doctors discovered a 6 CM tumor in the center of her head. Zuri courageously endured brain surgeries, chemotherapy, many trips to the emergency room, as well as extended stays in intensive care and hospital recovery rooms. She never stopped smiling, cooing, giggling, or loving everyone around her. Zuri loved h..Continue reading